NORTHERN IRELAND’S POLITICAL leaders have held “robust conversations” with Secretary of State Brandon Lewis over controversial UK Government plans to ban prosecutions over Troubles-related offences.
The parties outlined their opposition to the proposals in a virtual meeting with Lewis, which also included Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.
The meeting came as it was confirmed the Northern Ireland Assembly will be recalled next week from its summer recess to discuss concerns over what politicians and victims have described as a “de facto amnesty” for Troubles crimes.
Lewis said on Wednesday that he intends to introduce legislation to create a proposed statute of limitations which would end all prosecutions for incidents up to April 1998 and would apply to military veterans as well as ex-paramilitaries.
The proposals, which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said would allow Northern Ireland to “draw a line under the Troubles”, would also end all legacy inquests and civil actions related to the conflict.
Speaking today, Minister Coveney said there is “no predetermined outcome” to dealing with Northern Ireland’s legacy issues, adding that the British government’s position “is simply a position paper that is contributing to the process that is now underway”.
“This is not a case of the British government outlining the position, and then going through some form of consultation process, and then moving ahead with that position anyway in the Autumn. If that’s what we’re at, well then we have real problems,” Coveney said.
“I have to put some trust in this process, and I have done. Over time, I hope we will be able to provide reassurance to victims and their families, and to political leaders in Northern Ireland, that this is a genuine effort to try achieve consensus on perhaps the most sensitive issues in Northern Ireland, which is how we deal with the pain and trauma and the ongoing impact of the legacy of the past and how we try to move on,” Coveney said.
Following the meeting today, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said: “It was a fairly robust conversation. Each of us outlined our views on the way forward in relation to legacy.
“We recognise that these are very difficult and sensitive matters.
“This morning I have been meeting with some of the groups here representing innocent victims from across Northern Ireland. They are very concerned by the Government’s proposals for what they believe amounts to some form of amnesty.
“They believe passionately that the opportunity for victims and families to pursue justice should not be closed off and that view was replicated in the comments made by party leaders this morning.”
He added: “We want a process on legacy which includes an opportunity for those families and for those victims that want to take that route to pursue justice.
“It is not just about truth, it is not just about information recovery, it is about having the opportunity for individuals and families to pursue justice for their loved ones.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin says the British decision to end prosecutions for crimes related to the Troubles ‘needs to be dealt with in the context of the Good Friday Agreement’. All the parties in NI are united in their opposition to it, he says. | Read: https://t.co/uqp8gj1Uto pic.twitter.com/MFHxAjSao7
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 16, 2021
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there has to be a “consensus-based approach”.
He said: “What is at the foremost of our minds at all times must be the victims and their families.
“They feel betrayed and they feel let down, and we have to prioritise the families and victims of so many atrocities during that period of our history on this island, irrespective of one’s community.
“It’s very clear people want those that murdered their loved ones, be it paramilitaries, should be fully accountable to the justice system, fully acknowledging the challenges around that.”
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said her party would not “provide cover for anything” that amounts to an “amnesty” over Troubles prosecutions.
Long said: “Alliance was clear with the governments that we will continue to engage in the legacy process in order to find a solution. But that solution needs to be based on the rule of law and due process.
“However, we will not provide cover for anything that amounts to an amnesty. I was clear in the meeting this process has to be centred on victims, who have been re-traumatised this week thanks to the actions of the UK Government.
“Any suggestion their right to access justice has been denied will hurt them further.”
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said the meeting “did not provide any solutions for innocent victims”.
Beattie said: “I made clear at the meeting that we would not be supporting a statute of limitations, which has always been our consistent position because it was always going to inevitably lead to an amnesty for terrorists.
“The UK Government must widen their proposals to incorporate a criminal justice element or they will risk inflicting more pain on innocent victims whose families have already sacrificed so much.
“Any proposals which snuff out any hope of justice need to be abandoned. The Irish Government needs to do more than what they are doing now. It`s not good enough that the Irish Government comes to the table with warm smiles, but little else. Where is their command paper and what are they going to do?”
Stormont is to be recalled on Tuesday after more than 30 MLAs signed a recall petition introduced by the SDLP.
MLAs will debate a motion calling for victims and survivors to have a “full, material and central role and input into the content and design of structures to address the legacy of the past”.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin
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